It’s All About the Flow

Measuring hot, liquid bitumen: Time- and work-extensive methods to determine the density of samples with high melting point are now surpassed by a convincing alternate method. The External Heating Block from Anton Paar keeps bitumen, waxes, asphalt, plastics, polymers from hardening in the lines, while DMA HP determines their density with the usual quality. Through heating in the lines as well as in the measuring cell, the samples are kept consistently fluid, thus providing the laboratory with exceptionally fast and safe measurements, as precise as usual.

The DMA HP density meter, which has been specially designed for the measurement of samples with high melting point, manages sample temperatures up to 200 °C. Especially bitumen and waxes must be measured at temperatures high enough for the materials to remain fluid and not to harden in the supply lines.
As an accessory to DMA HP the External Heating Block from Anton Paar keeps the samples warm throughout the entire density measurement process, also in the filling- and sample tube. A common laboratory heating plate, often already available in the lab, provides the necessary heat.
The supply lines to the measuring cell are heated to a temperature that allows for hassle-free sample filling. The time-savings are enormous, since dilution and cooling is no longer necessary. And because there are no more complicated conversions, but measurements at the desired sample temperature instead, density determinations with DMA HP and the External Heating Block combined provide more accurate measuring results than other methods.

Safe work conditions are guaranteed: A lid above the heating block serves as additional contact protection. The laboratory does not only save on time, but also saves on valuable sample matter: A very small sample volume is needed. And since the heating block is also suitable for solvent use, even more time is saved in cleaning.
„Measurements with a pycnometer take up a lot of time – at least one to two hours -, since the sample needs to be filled in the designated container and then needs to be cooled. Diluting the sample and later converting the measuring result takes up even more time. Customers are relieved, since they are now provided with perfect measuring results for their samples with high melting point in next to no time“, Anton Paar product manager Siegfried Hold is glad to report.

For more information see www.anton-paar.com